Live to Tell the Tale
by Ricoch3t
Summary: The Last Hope isn't talking. Or, sometimes, even moving. The First Order are nerf herders and Hutts are scum. Poe Dameron is the Resistance's Pin-up model. Finn is really just trying to figure out how life outside the First Order works. And as if this isn't complicated enough, there's also the part they all play in the Fate of the Galaxy. This can only end in tears, really.


Akila had actually been having a pretty good day.

Her beloved _Phoenix_ had managed to actually land on the wild space planet Teth, as opposed to its usual habit of crash landing.

Hard.

Teth, with its majestic mesas that rise from the humid jungle fogs that cover the dense canopy of trees has the kind of peaceful atmosphere that consists of the muted calls of wild animals mixed with gentle breezes that can turn into tropical storms in an instant. The kind that are best observed from inside, with a warm drink and good company. It's one of her favourite stops, with the added bonus of being home to one of her best clients- Rotta the Hutt. He pays well, and generally has the sense not to mess with her.

Generally.

All of this should really have tipped her off that the day was about to go straight to Mustafar in a transport shuttle.

Which is how she ended up surrounded by a bunch of kriffing stromtroopers, with some smug First Order commander standing next to that treacherous, slimy, stinky slug. Said smug commander is saying something, but Akila is far too busy planning how she's going to kill Rotta. Because, yes, kill him she will.

A blaster butt connecting to her temple dumps her out of her fantasy world and into harsh reality.

"Did you hear me, Finder?" Smug Commander drawls.

"Yeah, no. I was planning how I will torture and kill that piece of scum beside you. That is if one of the rival gangs don't do it first. This is really bad business, Rotta." Akila's answer gets her a fist to the abdomen and, ouch, these guys have serious issues. And no class, because hitting an unarmed prisoner? That's not really screaming class.

Rotta doesn't help by laughing at her. According to his translator droid, he figures that the massive amount of money the First Order is paying him is worth a few skirmishes with some silly gangs.

And okay, a fifty-thousand credit reward is kind of flattering.

"I said, you will contact your partner and inform him that you are our prisoner."

"Really? That doesn't sound like me. At all." Akila drawls back at him with an insouciant shrug of her shoulders and a toss of her blonde hair.

"No, I suppose you will be needing some incentive." Smug Commander says and reaches for his comm. "TF-0913, report."

"We have the _Phoenix_ surrounded, sir, and are ready to fire at your command." The stormtrooper answers before showing a lovely shot of her surrounded ship.

Dammit. She just got the ancient republic diplomatic ship fixed too.

"Enough incentive for you?" Smug Commander asks and Akila vows to punch that look from his face. Soon. With extreme prejudice.

But first she needs to get her baby and her partner the kriff out of here.

"Barely." Akila snarls, but she's smart enough to know when emergency protocols are needed. "Give me the comm."

"That would be monumentally stupid of me." Smug Commander says. "We'll simply need to broadcast on a public, broad range frequency."

Damn it.

"Now, hail your ship, Finder."

Akila acquiesces with a snarl.

" _Phoenix,_ this is Finder 1. Can you hear me? I repeat, _Phoenix_ , this is Finder 1. Can you hear me?"

 _"_ _Finder 1, this is_ Phoenix _."_ Comes the familiar voice of her partner, cautious thanks to their code.

" _Phoenix_ , we have a situation of some delicacy over here. Considering that I'm surrounded by stormtroopers, your surrounded by stormtroopers, Rotta _isn't_ surrounded by…" Again with the hitting with the rifle butt. Obviously these stormtoopers have no imagination whatsoever.

"What your dear friend is trying to say is that we have a job for you." Smug Commander interrupts rudely.

" _Oh, yeah_?" _Phoenix_ answers. " _Usually people ask us very nicely and pay us._ "

"As will I: find what we want, or we'll kill the girl. When you have found and delivered the package, we will return the girl to you. See?"

A snort from the _Phoenix_. " _Yeah, you're a real charmer."_

"Listen, just do what he says. It's not like we have a choice." Akila interrupts Smug Commander and feels extremely satisfied at the twitch that brings to his eye.

" _…_ _Okay. You got yourself a deal, Mister…?"_ _Phoenix_ replies.

"Commander Atilles."

" _Right. Commander." Phoenix_ sounds clipped and worried _. "What's this package you're so desperate to find?"_

"Luke Skywalker."

Oh, kriff yeah. Straight to Mustafar.

In an escape pod.

SW-TFA-SW-TFA

Manu is waist deep in the guts of the _Phoenix_ , trying to fix the leak in the coupling cables which sprang up after their actual landing. Which was a nice change from the usual crashing that allowed them to make landfall.

Of course, things had immediately started going wrong afterwards, but he feels pretty damn proud of his achievement in getting this scavenged hunk of junk into the semi-working state that he has.

ED-4 is hovering somewhere above him, delivering ridiculously unwanted commentary like: "Oh, do watch your head Master Manu!" and "I am uncertain as to the wisdom of handling circuitry with those gloves- the insulating layer is almost non-existent by now!"

This just makes him wish even more fiercely that he could afford proper parts for her, as opposed to the scavenged parts they have to make do with. But they have obligations, and she hasn't lead them to grievous death or injury yet, with her heart so big and proud that it just sang to him.

He actually loves her fiercely.

"Phoenix _, this is Finder 1. Can you hear me? I repeat,_ Phoenix _, this is Finder 1. Can you hear me?"_

Manu feels icy fear grip his heart at the words coming from the ship's comm. It's their emergency callsign. So he answers in kind.

"Finder 1, this is _Phoenix."_

"Phoenix, _we have a situation of some delicacy over here. Considering that I'm surrounded by stormtroopers, your surrounded by stormtroopers, Rotta isn't surrounded by…"_ And then Manu can hear the sound of a rifle butt hitting flesh and finds himself clenching his hands into fists at the thought of what Akila must be going through. Still- her message got through: Rotta had betrayed them to the First Order, and they were in a really bad position. The Order had come prepared.

" _What your dear friend is trying to say is that we have a job for you."_ A smoothly smug male voice says, and Manu has to take deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Oh, yeah?" Manu answers, swallowing down his anger and worry. "Usually people ask us very nicely and pay us."

" _As will I: find what we want, or we'll kill the girl. When you have found and delivered the package, we will return the girl to you. See?"_

Typical Order, thinking they can just show up and take what is yours, threaten you with it and then pay you by returning it. Although they never do give it back.

"Yeah, you're a real charmer." Manu snarks back at the smug voice.

" _Listen, just do what he says. It's not like we have a choice."_ Akila's voice comes back.

Translation: get to the rendezvous point on Saleucami and wait for me there. Which isn't a plan he's okay with, but he knows that otherwise he'll just get on Akila's nerves and earn her wrath. So he clenches his teeth and grits out a reply.

"… Okay. You got yourself a deal, Mister…?" And yeah, he's deliberately taunting that smug voice.

" _Commander Atilles."_ Comes the snippy answer.

"Right. Commander. What's this package you're so desperate to find?" Manu wonders if the smug voice will answer him, or insist he doesn't need to know. But it surprises him in every possible way.

" _Luke Skywalker."_

Which really, really isn't the answer Manu was expecting. And makes his stomach sink in trepidation.

Still, he jets off when they clear him for landing with just a few more worried thoughts for Akila.

Then he starts thinking about the legendary Luke Skywalker and, well, he should have just known that was a mistake.

SW-TFA-SW-TFA

To say that the legendary Luke Skywalker is a disappointment is an understatement.

After he'd turned and stared at her at the top of that island he had sunk to the ground, cross-legged, closed his eyes and promptly not even moved for three days. When he finally moved, he'd caught some fish which he'd cooked and eaten. And pointedly not shared with her or Chewie as he chewed with a far-off look on his face.

Then he'd returned to sitting blankly in his spot.

So yeah, disappointment. Rey wishes she could have been on a quest to find the legendary Han Solo instead. They'd bonded, he'd liked her enough to offer her a job, she'd felt like he could be the father she never had.

Instead she's stuck on an island with a man who won't say a single word to her and reduced Chewbacca to mournful little sounds that can't really be translated into basic. Sounds of regret, of longing, of grief for old friends…

Life is just one big pile of steaming bantha poodoo, isn't it?

Still. This isn't something Rey can afford to fail at, so she on the fourth day she sat down next to the great Luke Skywalker and talked to him for an hour. She'd talked about everything and anything, and she'd talked for an hour straight. She repeated this little ritual every single day. She would talk and talk in the vague hope that he would answer her because, hey, it's the only idea she's got.

The rest of the time she and Chewie fish and tinker with the X-wing that Skywalker had brought along. They even managed to get it into some semblance of working order, which was nice since it gave her a sense of accomplishment. Sometimes they even fiddled with the _Falcon,_ and Chewie would tell her the true stories behind the great myths that his friends had become.

She wants to ask him about Kylo Ren, or Ben Solo, but she instinctively knows that that isn't a topic to be broached in their fledgling friendship.

It's been four months since she found Skywalker, and she knows the little island like the back of her hand. She's even gone so far as to cajole Chewie, 3PO and R2 into the _Falcon_ to go explore some of the surrounding islets. It would actually be relaxing, if the fate of the galaxy wasn't in the balance of it all.

And every evening, she talks to the stone wall that is Luke Skywalker.

Sometimes she thinks that she should just contact the Resistance and let them know that it's a bust- the Last Great Hope is defective and they should really find something else to put their faith in. Maybe a good old fashioned cult-like religion? There's a pretty nice one on Jakku that involves a lot of drugs and sex. It seems like it might even be a good recruitment spiel: Join the Resistance and Have Sex!

But then she thinks about the General, and all that she's lost already, and everything that Finn risked and gave up, and Poe Dameron's cute smile and she just… can't.

She can't bear to see the sheer loss of hope in their faces, see their inner sparkle dim even more. They deserve better than this, and Rey is determined to give it to them.

So she begs the Force for a miracle.

And it crash lands onto their little planet.

The early morning quiet is shattered by the sound of whining engines that are clearly dying a horrible, slow death and being kept together more by engine tape and love than any sound mechanics.

Rey rushes up the stairs with the macrobinoculars she'd found aboard the _Falcon_ , though she doesn't think they'll be necessary considering how loud the engines are getting.

She's pretty much just praying that the ship doesn't crash into their little island of desolation.

By the time she reaches the top of the stairs, the ship and the smoke are visible with the naked eye, but she still lifts the macrobinoculars to her face in order to make out the details.

"We need to get that ship." A strangely hoarse voice says next to her and Rey jumps about a foot in the air.

Because that voice can only belong to one person- Luke Skywalker.

SW-TFA-SW-TFA

Sirens blare distressingly from every corner of the _Phoenix_ , as though Manu couldn't figure out that something was wrong from the relentless shaking and the overwhelming smell of the hyperdrive actually bursting into flames.

This day just keeps getting better and better.

He'd say it's lucky that he came out of hyperspace near a planet, but at this stage he's pretty sure that it's full of flesh-eating rapthor-like species that will dine on him as soon as he manges to crash Akila's beloved ship. Which, by the way, is kind of unfair to him considering that it's _his_ mechanical prowess that keeps her flying, but does anyone ever call the ship his?

Of course not.

ED-4 beeps concernedly at him, which, again, he's not an idiot thanks. He knows that the crash is inevitable.

"Well, find us a place to land then!" He snaps irritably at the droid.

The reply is rude and perfunctory, but Manu hears the whirring of compliance with his order so he figures he can let it go and focus his concentration on not becoming a fiery ball of death on their way to the landing site. Or, hopefully, during the crash, though that seems to be a ridiculous hope.

Kriff, he's gonna die and feed the predators on some Force-forsaken planet whilst ED will be forced to roam the wilderness forever as the _Phoenix_ burns eternally as a tormented beacon that Akila will never find because she will have died a horrible death.

Or alternatively, he will die, she will find the _Phoenix_ 's eternally burning skeleton, and she will revive him, torture him in graphically imaginative ways, make him clean up the mess from the torture and then kill him again.

It's a toss up, really.

And then they're in the atmosphere and not yet a fiery ball of horror, though he does lose a spanner in the turbulence.

"Ed, please tell me we have a crash site." He yells as he runs towards the cockpit.

A confirmative series of beeps and whistles as he straps himself in and then there is the harsh compression of impact, followed by the shearing sound of metal being torn apart.

Though Manu is knocked unconscious almost instantly, so he doesn't experience most of that part.

I blame Lyth Icebreath for dragging me kicking and screaming back into the world of fan fiction.

Thanks honey.


End file.
